6 out of 10 Romanians allocate similar budgets for Christmas presents as last year, even though prices have gone up by 30%

  Six out of ten Romanians allocate under 700 lei this year for Christmas presents, the budgets being similar to those of 2023, although the prices are higher by 30%, according to a survey made at the initiative tbi Bank at national level.‘For 84% of the interviewees the budget is similar or even lower than last year. The reduction or the stagnation of the budget appear in the context where eight out of ten Romanians noticed that the prices of the products they intend to offer as present are by 30% higher than in 2023’ show the results of the survey.At the other end, over 33% of the interviewees allocated a budget between 700 and 1,000 lei for Christmas presents, while 9% surpassed the threshold of 1,500 lei. Even so, only 16% of the interviewees say they allocated a higher budget this year against last year, the tbi bank survey says.Over three quarters of the interviewees, namely 79% say they planned for a long time the purchases for Christmas presents, and a part took advantage of the reductions on Black Friday for the products they place under the tree, thus reducing a part of the pressure on the budget of December.Approximately 42% of the interviewees prepare two or three presents this year, and 32% had four or five presents on the purchasing list.Fashion (40.8 per cent), beauty (38.8 per cent), toys (29.4 per cent), electronics (24.2 per cent) and home & deco (20.7 per cent) are the most popular products, the tbi bank survey shows. Gifts are chosen according to the specific preferences of the people who will receive them, say almost nine out of ten respondents, with the rest favouring universal gifts that would suit everyone.   The tbi bank survey analysed consumer habits and preferences during the Christmas season and was conducted in October 2024 nationwide via the iVox platform on a total sample of 1,171 internet users in Romania. More than 48% of participants are female, and almost 39% have a net income above RON 5,000. Active in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Greece, Germany and Lithuania, tbi bank has a customer base of more than 2 million customers and granted almost 750,000 loans in 2023.   In Romania, more than 200,000 users constantly use the shopping app created by tbi bank.